Global| Oct 03 2011U.S. Construction Spending Jumps
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Volatility has been great in the monthly construction put-in-place figures, but there has been some trend improvement. During August, activity rose 1.4% after a little-revised 1.4% July decline. The monthly rise lifted activity 4.8% [...]
Volatility has been great in the monthly construction put-in-place
figures, but there has been some trend improvement. During August,
activity rose 1.4% after a little-revised 1.4% July decline. The monthly
rise lifted activity 4.8% above the March low. A 0.2% August slip had been
the Consensus expectation.
A rebound in public construction activity of 3.1% (-6.3% y/y) led the gain in monthly activity, after declines in nine of the ten prior months. Monthly strength was broad-based amongst public safety (-7.0% y/y), education (-4.5% y/y), highways & streets (-4.0% y/y), amusements & recreation (-18.6% y/y) and sewerage & waste disposal (-11.8% y/y). However, as these negative y/y changes indicate, federal, state & local spending budgets remain tight.
A modest 0.4% uptick in private sector spending followed. Residential building rose 0.7% as the value of single-family building (+10.5% y/y), multi-family building (13.3% y/y) and improvements (10.5% y/y) each rose modestly. Nonresidential building activity ticked up 0.2% led by a gain in power (25.9% y/y) and a rise in transportation (8.5% y/y). These gains were offset by commercial construction which fell m/m (+9.0% y/y) as did educational (+7.0% y/y).
The construction put-in-place figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in Haver's AS1REPNA database.
| Construction Put in Place (%) | Aug | Jul | Jun | Y/Y | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1.4 | -1.4 | 1.5 | 0.9 | -11.3 | -15.3 | -7.5 |
| Private | 0.4 | -1.4 | 1.4 | 5.6 | -15.2 | -22.4 | -12.2 |
| Residential | 0.7 | -3.2 | -2.0 | 3.9 | -2.9 | -29.9 | -29.0 |
| Nonresidential | 0.2 | 0.3 | 4.6 | 7.0 | -24.0 | -16.0 | 10.5 |
| Public | 3.1 | -1.5 | 1.9 | -6.3 | -3.9 | 2.1 | 6.6 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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